I'm so sorry for the ridiculously long wait, I've had one hell of a month to say the least. Chapter 7 & 8 is really one chapter, but as I really wanted to post something for you and I'm not quite finished with the second part I thought I'd break it up into two parts instead, which is why this chapter is a little shorter. Since I have the weekend of I might be able to post the second part of this chapter (chapter 8, that is) on sunday or something. On another note I would also like to let you all know that me, my sister and our friend are going to New York Comic Con this fall and hopefully meeting the cast of this wonderful TV-series! I'm so excited! Iiiih!

Now, read and please review your thoughts. I love constructive criticism, but leave the nasty reviews out please! Thank you!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or these characters

Chapter 7

Carol watched in horror as the man that had been holding his gun towards Rick's temple opened the door to a, in her claustrophobic opinion, very small cargo space and threw Rick inside. She turned her head around to try and figure out where in the world these men had taken them. Her familiarization with the surroundings was cut short by the man behind her pushing her roughly towards the door where Rick had just disappeared and she reluctantly entered. Since they hadn't bothered to cover up their eyes she figured they weren't planning on keeping them alive for long, and the thought of dying in this small space made her want to cry out in frustration. She hadn't survived fifteen years with Ed throwing her into the basement and locking her inside for however long he saw fit only to have some new asshole sealing her faith and locking her in yet another cage to rot in.

No fucking way am I dying here.

She looked over towards Rick, who had slumped down against one of the four walls. She sat down with her back towards the other and gave away a deep sigh.

" There's no way out of here", he said. Carols' head shot up, how could he just give up so easily? How could he give up on ever seeing his family again, their family!? She felt anger rise inside of her.

"You don't know that, we just got here. You can't just give up!", she almost screamed at him. She refused to let him give up, she needed his help to get out of here. To get back to Judith, Carl and the rest of them.

To get back to Daryl...

"This is the exact same type of cargo space we were trapped in before... I already studied every inch of the last one for a weak spot. There's nothing that'll help us out of here. We just have to wait."

Carol nodded, still simmering from frustration. She wasn't very good at just waiting around to get killed or worse. She'd done it most of her married life, just waiting for that one punch that would finally end her misery.

She stood up and walked over to where Rick sat.

"I need you to practice hand-to-hand battle with me", she said. The look on Rick's face would have made her laugh if they weren't currently stuck in this cage awaiting their death. When he so obviously wasn't catching on as to where her head was at, she decided to explain it to him.

"If we're going to get out of here we'll need to fight our way out, and we need to be smart about it. We don't have any weapons and so we'll need to take them out in close up combat. Now, Daryl has taught me some basic moves but there's definitely room for improvement. Since we have no idea how long we have until they come back for us I suggest we get started right away", she waved her hand for him to get up so they could get on with it but he just sat there, staring at her. Carol sighed and crunched down in front of him.

"Rick, I understand if you're still upset with me, I really do. But please, don't zone out on me now. Please try, we have to get out of here", she almost begged. She really needed to get out of here before her determination and frustration turned into panic and the claustrophobia got the upper hand of the situation.

Finally, he rose to his feet and Carol followed suit.

"So, how much did he teach you?", he asked. Carol smiled, and showed him what she and Daryl had been practicing.


§

"Hey Daryl, have you seen Carol? I can't find her"

Daryl looked up from the stick he was currently forming into an arrow and shadowed his eyes with one hand to meet Maggie's, which were filled with worry.

"'Chonne said she was out with Rick, maybe they ain't back yet" He said, trying to keep calm, while he felt the panic starting in his chest. He hadn't been able to find Carol when he got back from the woods, and since Michonne had told him she was out with Rick talking things out, he figured she was going to be alright and get back pretty soon. But that was hours ago. He looked around, trying to find Michonne to see if maybe they'd gotten back and Maggie was just too lazy to actually look for her properly. He spotted Michonne with Tyreese by the porch and called out to her.

"Ey! 'Chonne! Carol and Rick back yet?"

Michonne looked around, and as she shook her head Daryl could see that she too was starting to get worried about the two family-members. He quickly rose to his feet and walked over to her to get more information about where they had actually gone to have their little talk.

"I'm not sure, I know they were talking about going out to pick some mushrooms and they went that way, but that's all I know", she explained as she pointed. Daryl quickly gathered his gear and started in the direction she had pointed when a hand landed on his shoulder to stop him. He turned around to look straight into Michonnes dark and worried eyes.

"I'm going with you, I just have to get us something to eat out there. We both know we won't be any use to them if we're starving or dying of thirst", she said and quickly ran into the house to gather up the things they might need.

"Do you really think something might have happened to them?" Maggie asked, looking around her for any potential threats. Daryl snorted.

"Well, it's not like it would be the first time he goes out with her and comes home alone...", he said bitterly. Maggie just looked away guiltily and nodded. Daryl felt like the worlds biggest asshole, but he couldn't help it. Carol was missing and he was going crazy.

When I find her again I'm tying her up and ain't letting her go anywhere without me!

Michonne came back a few minutes later with a pack of necessities. She nodded at him that they were all set and they both took of towards the woods in a rapid paste. Something inside of Daryl told him he needed to find the both of them as fast as he could, that something was really wrong.

They found their tracks easily enough and Daryl crunched on the ground to study their path. Michonne stood behind him, ready to follow once he'd determined which way they should go. He knew she wasn't a half bad tracker herself, since he'd taught her a thing or two on their hunt for the Governor, but she wasn't nearly as good as him and therefore she chose to stand back and let him do the work.

He looked up at from the ground and rose to his feet.

"They where here this morning, but they went further in", he stated more to himself than anything else.

They continued on in silence for a few more minutes and Daryl felt his heart clench in his chest.

Why did you have to go so far from the house, woman? Damnit!

"Daryl, look!", he lifted his eyes of the ground and looked over towards where Michonne was pointing and saw the two half-full baskets laying there.

"What the fuck!?" Daryl felt his anger rise, something had definitely happened here, something that most certainly wasn't good. He looked down at the ground again and noticed tracks indicating that someone had been drawn, or at least had wanted it to look that way.

Smart move Rick, he thought recognizing the sheriff's footprints.

"C'mon, this way. It was at least half a day since whatever shit went down here happened and we need to hurry", he waved for Michonne to follow, trying to block the images of what might have happened to Carol and Rick out of his head but failing to completely press down the anger rising within him along with the panic. He was thankful that Michonne had followed him now that he was sure something bad had happened to the both of them, he would need the silent warrior to take down whatever assholes that had taken their family-members.

Hold on. We're coming for you. Just fucking hold on.


§

Panting, they sat down against the wall. They had been at if for at least an hour and Rick had to admit that he was a bit impressed by how good Carol was at defending herself. He watched Carol as she tried to catch her breath, realizing they never got to finish their earlier conversation.

"Hey", he spoke softly, catching her attention. She looked up at him, a small smile playing on her lips.

"I never got to ask you before; Why didn't you just come to me and explain what had happened with Karen and David, why did you hide it?", he asked, deciding to come straight out with it.

The smile on her lips disappeared and she watched him for a few seconds, as if trying to decide what to tell him, before she sighed and opened her mouth.

"I was about to tell Daryl, but then Tyreese found them and when you both swore that whoever had done it would be punished I figured it was smarter to just keep it to myself. I guess I was just afraid that... " Her voiced trailed off and he understood what she had been about to say.

"That we would kick you out, or that we would turn our backs against you and let Tyreese have his revenge", he finished for her, disgusted with himself for doing just that, kicking her out of their family. She nodded.

"I just... I'm so sorry about how this whole thing played out. I know I should have explained when we were out on that last run, but it was all just so surreal to me, you know? My head wasn't really grasping it", she tried to explain. He nodded.

"Carol... I was wrong to kick you out, to say those things to you. You had every right to bitch me out yesterday, and now that I know what really happened I can't blame you for doubting my ability to lead this family", he looked down to the floor as he spoke. He'd never been very good at apologizing and admitting he was in the wrong, and he couldn't look her in the eyes as the words fell from his tongue.

Suddenly, he felt a small hand grasp his in a small comfort.

"You did what you thought was right at the time, Rick. What you thought was the right thing for your children. I'll admit that I felt betrayed, hurt and that I was angry with you for a while. But mostly I think I was all those things because I understood why you did what you did. We were both trying to protect the ones we love, I can never blame you or find you to be a bad man for doing that. But, I think it might take me some time to really let all of this go. I don't really trust easily and well... Even though I don't blame you or have a grudge against you for doing what you did, you still had it in you to leave me out there alone and it's gonna take me a while to get over the fear that it might happen again", she said and let her hand rest in his as they sat there in silence. Rick silently accepted her words, understanding how she felt and not at all surprised at them.

"So, how do we get out of here?", he finally asked her. She smiled up at him, obviously glad he was as prepared as she was to fight his way out of this cage.

"Well, in all honesty I really don't know. How did you do it the last time? I wasn't really in the loop of what was going on at that time. I was mostly angry at Tyreese for risking his dumb ass without telling me", she smirked at him. Rick let out a snort at that statement and began telling her how they had gotten out the night before.

"Provided these are the same people that was at the Terminus, which it looked like it was, I would say they will be taking us out back for bathroom breaks on our own, and since you're quite small I think they won't expect anything from you. But I still think you might need a weapon of some kind...", he stopped as Carol started looking through her pockets for something.

"Like this?", she said triumphal, holding up a small steal nail-file. He smirked and nodded, thinking back to the CDC where Shane had said that a nail-file probably wouldn't help much.

"Okay, so you'll use that to take the guard down. Provided it's just the one, that is. And then..." he stopped speaking immediately and they both froze in their place as the door creaked open. A large guard stepped inside, not even bothering to look at Rick but went straight for Carol, who whimpered and gave him a confused and terrified look, and yanked her up roughly before dragging her out of the cargo space and closing the door behind them again.

Rick hadn't foreseen this happening and he felt the panic rise inside of him. What would they do to her? He wasn't even sure the others had even noticed that they were gone, which would mean that they weren't even close to finding them. He needed to get them both out of here one way or the other, and he needed to do it before they had time to do anything to Carol, which ment he had to think of something fast. He rose and started to pace the small space, running his hands through his hair.

Think think think, C'MON DAMNIT! She's gonna fucking die if you don't do something, NOW!